It was a quiet summer afternoon and all that could be heard was the slow rustling of leaves every time a cool wind passed through the meadow. Sitting on a branch was a small cardinal looking through the window of a wooden cottage. It was an escape home to a little girl. The cottage would look like a piece of abandoned trash to any person passing by, but to her, it was a cozy, little refuge for her to get away from her chaotic family and busy life. She found the cottage on one of her walks through the meadow and decided to fix up the inside. After that day, she would often spend hours upon hours reading on a blue bean bag chair next to a shelf full of enough books to last her a lifetime. In these books were stories that took her to a new realm each time. Every time she visited a new world, she created an unbreakable bond with the characters. Alas, all stories come to an end and this little girl had to get home before it got dark. So, she packed up for the night and started on her journey home.

Two girls running for their lives, running as fast as they could to save themselves; when one of them suddenly stopped. She looked up at the clouded night sky and saw a single star. All she could think about was where it all went wrong. It began when three girls met each other and decided they would go on grand adventures together. Rania Harock, a wild, but quiet girl with jet black hair and misty, grey eyes. All she ever wanted was to explore new lands with her two best friends, Ella Brims and Melina Stenner. Ella Brims, notoriously good at getting away with anything, she was easy to recognize as she was the one with ginger hair and brown eyes. Melina Stenner, a calm and collected soul with brown hair and amber eyes. Recently, Rania wanted to get out of her hometown which was Moscow, Russia.  A truly magnificent sight to behold, full of culture and life; but having lived there her whole life, she decided she needed to see the world from a much more peaceful view which is why she decided to grab her friends and leave the busy city life behind her. 

They decided to go somewhere more calm and quiet and that’s how they ended up in a small town in the middle of nowhere with about a few hundred people. These girls were known to be the type of people to mess around with each other in the early hours of the night. However, one night, they should have just gone to sleep because soon, they would learn the errors of their ways, if they survived. The shenanigans began like any others; pulling pranks, watching movies, telling stories, and playing games until it got to the game of truth or dare. The game started out easy with simple dares and secretive truths. Rania had just completed her dare when the girls felt a strange wave flow through them. The lights flickered off and then back on multiple times until they completely shut off and it was pitch black darkness. 

The next thing the girls saw was a dead body burning in the corner of the room. It seemed to look familiar and upon closer inspection, they found out it was Melina; their faithful friend was gone. Everyone escaped the building and watched as it lit up in flames with her deceased friend still inside. The once trio was now a duo with Ella and Rania remaining to get to the bottom of what happened to Melina. However, not long after Melina’s death, the population of the town was decreasing rapidly. So, here were two girls trying to reach the safety camp at town hall. Everywhere they looked there was always a burning body, it seemed as if the stream of murders was following them.As they turned the corner, Ella and Rania saw their beacon of hope, finally, they made it inside the building that was protecting the remaining townsfolk. 

Rania decided to ask the mayor what was happening and how they were going to fix it. Just as she was about to open her mouth to ask, the mayor died drowning in her blood and was ignited in flames as so was everyone else that was left in the building including Ella. They had finally reached the safety camp, but it was all in vain. She lost another one of her best friends and it seemed that the town was completely deserted now with not a single breathing soul in sight. She ran outside and realized she was truly alone. Rania Harock, a girl who could never be tamed, was now surrounded by all the dead, burning people of her new town. However, even with all the evidence in front of her, Rania felt as if she wasn’t alone. She felt chills run down her spine as she closed her eyes and opened them again only to realize that she was right, she wasn’t alone. Watching her as if she was an exotic animal were hundreds of spirits. Two of these spirits stood out to her the most, the souls of her friends, Ella and Melina. All these phantoms seemed to be angry with the black-haired girl. As if they wanted to seek revenge on her, but why? She hadn’t done anything wrong. Just then, she heard a voice in her head that was not her own, it sounded sinister. 

The voice spoke and it said, “This is your fault. You did this. Remember the dare.” Her dare. Her dare caused all these problems. Ella had dared her to summon a ghost, Rania had thought nothing of it and went through with her dare. Yet, after her challenge, all of this chaos had occurred. She summoned a demon. She caused this wonderful town so much pain. She had made everyone suffer, but the more she thought about it the more she realized that she wasn’t the only one to blame. Her hands formed fists and she was fuel by pure hatred. With all this rage coursing through her veins, she screamed an ear-splitting scream. She demanded the voice to tell her everything and so it did. The voice spoke in a menacing tone telling her all about how his name was Samuel Jones and how he was bullied as a kid in school by everyone he looked at because of his eyes. He told her about how people called him names and told him he belonged in hell because he was born with irises the colour of blood. After enduring the torture for so long, he vowed to kill enough victims to satisfy his traumatic past. He had accomplished half of his goal with his serial killer signature by killing people and then burning them while staring at the ignited figure with his crimson eyes. He became widely known as “The Devil’s Assassin” and he wanted to complete his mission as soon as possible, but not long after his 150th victim, the police caught him. Every day he planned to escape, he was itching to get back out there and finish his quest. However, one day a prison fire had started and everyone inside burned to death. Nevertheless, Samuel vowed to return and finish what he started. Years later, when he saw a way to return to the human world, he took the chance. This all happened thanks to the dare that had been so foolishly completed. Samuel thanked Rania for being so senseless because he was able to possess her body and use it to his advantage. Whenever he saw a person who could be an easy target, he just pushed Rania’s soul to the side and took over without her even knowing. 

Rania then learned that she had killed all those people whose now ghosts surrounded her, now she understood why they were angry. She became the puppet that “The Devil’s Assassin” used to get his work done. The only thing she could think about now was what was going to happen to her. Having heard her thoughts, the assassin gladly answered her question. He removed his soul from her body and floated in front of her. Quick as light, he stabbed her and watched as she fell to the floor. Rania looked around her for the last time and saw only the flames that were engulfing her. She looked up to the sky hoping to leave the world with some belief that it will all get better soon, but that was too good to be true. When looking up, all she saw was the glowing red eyes of her murderer along with the final words that he spoke, “Goodbye.”